Increased traffic on our roads and concern for the environment are hot topics at the moment and so they should be as they directly impact our mobility and future. Traffic can be expected to increase even more as populations increase and developing countries become wealthier.

While increasing petrol prices directly impacts all who use the road, it is no long term solution for solving traffic or pollution problems. As we have seen, previous increases in the cost of petrol have not meant that traffic is now moving freely in the present. The normal sequence of events is something along the lines of: oil companies increase prices, transport companies and businesses simply pass on the increase to the consumer, and consumers tighten their belts a little and swallow the increase.

Recent technology applied to car manufacturing along with inner city traffic restrictions have probably had more impact on reducing traffic emissions and flow in urban areas than. While people travelling on vacation or in their free time to visit family or friends may think twice about using their car, the vast bulk of daily traffic on the roads consists of commuters; people going to and from work and commercial transport. Whether they travel by car, bus or motorcycle, these people have little option when faced with a petrol price increase, therefore we can hardly expect the volume of traffic to reduce drastically unless we also accept expect people to stop going to work.

We have already seen the success of technology in cars when it comes to reducing pollution and increasing energy efficiency and this probably holds the best hope for the future. Reasonable and conscious use of private cars by people should continue to be encouraged. While inner city traffic restrictions on private cars have had some success in reducing pollution, additional restrictions could well lead to other problems such as even further decay of local high street retail trade which has already been severely affected by out of town shopping malls and online shopping.

How would you answer this IELTS essay question about traffic and pollution?